Written Answers

Friday 23 June 2000

Scottish Executive

Agriculture

Alasdair Morgan (Galloway and Upper Nithsdale) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many farm businesses received payments, in the most recent year for which figures are available, totalling (a) £0 to £12,500; (b) £12,501 to £25,000; (c) £25,001 to £50,000; (d) £50,001 to £75,000; (e) £75,001 to £100,000; (f) £100,001 to £150,000 and (g) over £150,000 under (i) the CAP Market Support arrangements; (ii) the CAP Accompanying Measures; (iii) the Hill Livestock Compensatory Allowances scheme, and (iv) all three schemes combined.

Ross Finnie: The number of farm businesses which received payments under (i) the CAP Market Support arrangements in the stated bands for scheme year 1999 are as follows:

  


(a) 


£0 to £12,500 


13,184 




(b) 


£12,501 to £25,000 


3,547 




(c) 


£25,001 to £50,000 


2,844 




(d) 


£50,001 to £75,000 


877 




(e) 


£75,001 to £100,000 


337 




(f) 


£100,001 to £150,000 


190 




(g) 


over £150,000 


85 




  The number of farm businesses which received payments under (iii) the Hill Land Compensatory Allowance (HLCA) in the stated bands for scheme year 1999 are as follows:

  


(a) 


£0 to £12,500 


12,766 




(b) 


£12,501 to £25,000 


1022 




(c) 


£25,001 to £50,000 


207 




(d) 


£50,001 to £75,000 


16 




(e) 


£75,001 to £100,000 


6 




(f) 


£100,001 to £150,000 


0 




(g) 


over £150,000 


0 




  With regard to (ii) the CAP accompanying measures, this information could not be made available in the given timescale. It will also not be possible to aggregate the information to provide the summary information at (iv), without significant manual effort. I will however write separately to the Member for Galloway and Upper Nithsdale when the CAP Accompanying Measures information is available and also place this information in SPICe at that time.

Air Services

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will make representations to Her Majesty’s Government on the proposed merger between British Airways and KLM regarding any implications for maintaining direct services between Scotland and Amsterdam.

Sarah Boyack: The Scottish Executive has no plans to do so. The decision to maintain direct air services, or to develop new services, between Scotland and Amsterdam is a matter for the commercial judgment of airlines.

Alcohol Misuse

Phil Gallie (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what residential treatment facilities are available for alcohol dependent persons in (i) the public sector; (ii) the private sector and (iii) the voluntary sector.

Iain Gray: There is no central register of such services maintained by the Scottish Executive but the information is contained in the publication Alcohol Services in Scotland 1998-99’  published by the Scottish Council on Alcohol, who we core-fund. A copy of the document is available in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 6729). The Scottish Advisory Council on Alcohol Misuse has commissioned local Alcohol Misuse Co-ordinating Committees to conduct an inventory of alcohol misuse services in their areas. This will inform the Committee’s work on the development of guidance on the effective planning and provision of services.

Alcohol Misuse

Phil Gallie (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive which private and voluntary sector residential treatment centres for alcohol dependent persons are available for use by public sector bodies for referral of patients; what bodies can authorise such treatment, and what funding is currently available to meet such requirements.

Iain Gray: For the first part of the question, I refer to the answer to question S1W-7800. Health and social work professionals make referrals, preferably following joint assessment. Information about the sums currently made available by health boards and local authorities specifically for residential alcohol treatment is not available.

Community Care

Ms Margo MacDonald (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-3808 by Iain Gray on 7 February 2000, what information is available on the average waiting times for patients in NHS hospitals who have requested accommodation in residential nursing homes, broken down by local authority and whether it now has any plans to maintain this information on a consistent basis.

Iain Gray: Consistent information is not currently available. Statistics on delayed discharges and the reasons for them are now routinely collected on a quarterly basis. Information on the first quarter will be analysed in July and published shortly thereafter.

Education

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are any mechanisms in place to allow it to pay funds directly to individual schools and, if not, what plans it has to introduce such mechanisms.

Mr Sam Galbraith: There are no regulations currently in place under which the Scottish Executive has the power to pay funds directly to individual schools which are under the management of local authorities, and we have no plans to make such regulations. As is clear from the arrangements established for the recent distribution of the additional resources for schools announced in the Budget in March, it is already possible to take steps to ensure that schools can receive additional resources through local authority channels.

Education

Mr Andrew Welsh (Angus) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will grant additional capital borrowing consent to Angus Council to enable it to bring St. Vigeans Primary School building up to modern day standards.

Peter Peacock: The annual allocation to local authorities of consent to incur capital expenditure is a general consent for expenditure on their non-housing capital programmes, including education. The consent is distributed amongst authorities on the basis of a formula agreed with CoSLA, and is neither programme nor project specific. The local authorities are themselves responsible for prioritising work on particular school building projects from the overall resources available to them.

Education

Karen Gillon (Clydesdale) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it proposes to introduce further rephasing of the Higher Still programme.

Mr Sam Galbraith: Under a 1998 agreement, teachers could delay implementing the new "Higher Still" Higher courses, for one year only, if they met criteria laid down by the national Higher Still Liaison Group. In fact around 80% of the new Higher courses went ahead in 1999-2000.

  Henry McLeish and I have considered carefully whether it would be in the best interests of students to change the 1998 agreement by delaying full implementation of any new Highers for a further year. We have concluded that most of the new Highers should go ahead as agreed.

  However, a working group of practitioners set up by the Scottish Qualifications Authority has just recommended changes to improve the assessment of english and communication and reduce teachers’ workload. We welcome this, since we are determined to meet teachers’ valid concerns, but note that SQA needs to consult before making the larger recommended changes, which it aims to have implemented this autumn.

  We have therefore responded to teachers’ requests by allowing teachers the option of a further year’s delay to 2001-02 while consultations continue.

Enterprise

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether provisions under the Education and Training (Scotland) Bill and any proposed subordinate legislation which may be made under the Bill will allow for a pilot scheme on the operation of individual learning accounts in rural locations and, if so, whether such a pilot will be conducted in each local enterprise area in both the Highlands and Islands and the Borders and whether provisions will allow for remuneration in respect of attendance at learning centres.

Henry McLeish: In two pilot areas - the Lochaber and Scottish Borders local enterprise company (LEC) areas - holders of individual learning accounts (ILAs) will be able to seek financial assistance through the ILA scheme towards travel, subsistence and childcare costs. This is being done under the existing powers of the enterprise network. It is intended that regulations to be made under the powers being sought in the Education and Training (Scotland) Bill would enable such pilots to continue.

  Reimbursement is likely to relate to the costs of attending local learning centres or other approved learning providers.

Environment

Mr Andrew Welsh (Angus) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is satisfied that there are no health problems associated with emissions from Seed Crushers Scotland Ltd.

Sarah Boyack: The problem associated with emissions from Seed Crushers (Scotland) Ltd’s plant is principally one of odour. The Scottish Environment Protection Agency, which regulates operations at the plant, is addressing this issue by requiring the company to upgrade facilities and improve the processes involved. The plant has not operated since last year.

Environment

Mr Andrew Welsh (Angus) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what quantity of GM rapeseed it estimates has been processed by Seed Crushers Scotland Ltd.

Ross Finnie: This information is not held by the Scottish Executive.

Ferry Operations

Alasdair Morgan (Galloway and Upper Nithsdale) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the additional annual cost would be of replacing the current fares structure on subsidised ferries with a road equivalent tariff scheme.

Sarah Boyack: This information could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Fisheries

Richard Lochhead (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether MSPs can have access to correspondence and communications between The Scottish Office and Her Majesty’s Government regarding the establishment of the Scottish fisheries zone prior to its establishment and, if so, how.

Mr John Home Robertson: This is a matter for the United Kingdom Government. Scottish Ministers do not have access to correspondence and communications that took place between the Scottish Office and other departments of the United Kingdom Government.

Food Safety

Alex Fergusson (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how much it will cost to collect the £100 license fee from retail butchers’ shops in Scotland.

Susan Deacon: The fee of £100 is intended to cover the full costs of administering each licence application including the collection of the fee itself, which accounts for a small proportion of the total cost.

Food Safety

Alex Fergusson (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive why retail butchers which offer ready-to-eat products will have to pay the £100 license fee when other establishments which offer similar products are not subject to such a requirement.

Susan Deacon: All   retailers engaged in the handling of unwrapped raw meat and its subsequent sale, together with ready-to-eat food will require a licence - whether a traditional retail butcher or other retailer dealing in these products.

Food Safety

Alex Fergusson (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the plans to levy a £100 license fee on all retail butchers’ shops are final; what the purpose is of the license, and why the fee is being introduced earlier in Scotland than in the rest of the United Kingdom.

Susan Deacon: As the regulations have been laid and approved by the Scottish Parliament, the £100 licence fee will become statutory - as of 2 October 2000.

  Licensing has been introduced to improve food safety. The licensing scheme will ensure that certain stringent food hygiene controls are being met by butchers as recommended in the Pennington Group report into the Lanarkshire E.coli O.157 outbreak in 1996.

  The regulations will come into effect six months after being laid in the Scottish Parliament; the stipulated Scottish time frame throughout consultation. The regulations will dictate that the fee – in line with that in England – will subsequently be collected on an annual basis.

Justice

Maureen Macmillan (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress it has made on preventing a person accused of a sex offence from personally cross-examining the alleged victim.

Mr Jim Wallace: Work is underway on legislative proposals to prevent an accused person charged with a sex offence from cross-examining a victim in person and to strengthen provisions restricting cross-examination on sexual history. Three main options have been identified to prevent an accused cross-examining in person: to require the accused to be legally represented throughout the whole case; to require the accused to be represented only for the cross-examination of the victim; and to give the court discretion to require the accused to be legally represented in certain circumstances. Various options have also been identified to restrict further cross-examination on sexual history. We will be discussing these and other possible options with interested parties over the summer with a view to producing legislative proposals that are practical and consistent with the European Convention on Human Rights.

Land Reform

Dr Sylvia Jackson (Stirling) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has regarding tenant farmers in the forthcoming programme of land reform legislation.

Ross Finnie: Proposals for land reform legislation which will have a direct impact on the interests of tenant farmers are contained in the White Paper Agricultural Holdings Proposals For Legislation (SE/2000/51) which I announced in the Scottish Parliament and published on 17 May. All the proposals in that White Paper deal with the relationships between tenant farmers and their landlords. Other land reform proposals, for example on access, may affect some tenant farmers but none of these are specifically intended to do so. There was an action plan for the land reform programme published in August 1999 and the latest report on progress with that action plan has just been published. All these documents are available in SPICe.

Legislation

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what new public transport projects will have to be approved through procedures in the Private Legislation Procedure (Scotland) Act 1936.

Sarah Boyack: Following an amendment made to the Private Legislation Procedure (Scotland) Act 1936 by paragraph 5 of Schedule 8 to the Scotland Act 1998, it is no longer possible to apply under the 1936 Act where the powers sought are wholly within the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament. Applications made before 1 July 1999 are not affected.

  Where the powers sought are wholly within the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament, a Private Bill may be introduced in the Scottish Parliament. Special rules for Private Bills are contained in Rule 9.17 of the Standing Orders.

NHS Funding

Karen Whitefield (Airdrie and Shotts) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what contribution health boards are making to the revenue costs of hospices within their areas, expressed as a percentage of total revenue costs.

Susan Deacon: The Scottish Partnership Agency for Palliative and Cancer Care conducts an annual survey of Scottish hospices to monitor the level of NHS funding they receive. With regard to the latest survey, questionnaires were sent to 13 hospices and returns for 1999-2000 were received from 12.

  The percentage of revenue funding currently provided to each adult hospice in Scotland by health boards in relation to the overall running costs of each hospice is as follows:

  


Health Board 


Hospice 


Total Health Board 
Funding 


% Revenue Expenditure 
from Contracts 




Ayrshire & 
Arran 


Ayrshire 


888,277 


39 




Argyll & 
Clyde 


Accord 


372,332 


35 



 

Ardgowan 


347,786 


31 



 

St. Vincent’s 


299,758 


31 




Forth Valley 


Strathcarron 


927,830 


40 




Greater Glasgow 


Marie Curie Hunters 
Hill 


1,038,197 


40 



 

Prince & 
Princess of Wales 


704,541 


40 



 

St. Margaret’s* 

 
 



Highland 


Highland 


384,000 


32 




Lanarkshire 


St. Andrews 


864,741 


58 




Lothian 


Marie Curie Fairmile 


876,017 


42 



 

St. Columba’s 


1,105,000 


36 




Western Isles 


Bethesda 


 113,300 


50 




TOTAL 

 

7,921,779 

 



Av. % revenue cost covered by 
NHS 

 
 

 40 




  *No return has been received from St. Margaret’s Hospice.

  Separate arrangements exist for the funding of Rachel House, which is a children’s hospice. Tayside Health Board (in whose area the hospice is situated) acts as lead negotiator on behalf of all the health boards. The Children’s Hospice Association, Scotland, (CHAS), has reached a service level agreement with health boards and currently receives £125,000 per annum.

  In addition CHAS is in receipt of a Section 16B core grant of £25,000 for 2000-01 towards administration costs.

NHS Trusts

Helen Eadie (Dunfermline East) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many Joint Investment Fund projects between new acute and primary care NHS Trusts are currently under way.

Susan Deacon: A recent review of initiatives involving service redesign projects between acute and primary care NHS trusts showed there are around 100 such ventures underway in Scotland; just under a quarter of these are JIF projects. Some of the areas covered include:

  Coronary heart disease services in Dumfries and Galloway

  Stroke services in the Borders

  Services for diabetics in Lanarkshire.

NHS Trusts

Helen Eadie (Dunfermline East) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to require NHS Trusts to contribute a percentage of their budgets to the Joint Investment Fund and to design services in a collaborative manner.

Susan Deacon: JIF is simply the mechanism for redesigning services to meet patient need and to ensure that resources move with any service change; this may involve resource transfer between Trusts. JIF projects are determined locally and reflected in the Health Improvement Programme for the health board area and in the Trusts’ own Implementation Plans.

  A key aim of the modernisation of our services is to bring services closer to home where that is clinically appropriate. As part of the modernisation agenda, I am reviewing our performance management systems to ensure that targets and incentives are in place to achieve this aim.

Renewable Energy

Dr Sylvia Jackson (Stirling) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether domestic wind turbines can play a part in meeting Scotland’s obligations in relation to renewable energy.

Sarah Boyack: Yes, the Renewables (Scotland) Obligation will in future be the main vehicle for increasing the amount of new renewable electricity generation in Scotland. It will take the form of an obligation on all electricity suppliers to provide to their customers a specified proportion of electricity from qualifying renewable sources by 2010, subject to the cost to the consumer being acceptable. In addition to these arrangements, we expect that domestic scale wind turbines will also make a small but useful contribution.

Student Finance

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to extend the provision of supplementary student grants for the dependants of students to include partners as well as spouses.

Henry McLeish: A fundamental review of the means test used to assess support for higher education students is underway. It will encompass issues such as whether partners should be treated on the same footing as spouses in terms of their eligibility for the Dependants’ Grant and their liability to be assessed for a contribution towards the student’s support.

Student Finance

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to exempt part of a dependant’s income for the purpose of calculating entitlement to supplementary student grants.

Henry McLeish: Currently, part of a dependant’s income is disregarded for the purpose of calculating entitlement to supplementary grants. For academic session 2000-01, £930 for each dependant will be disregarded in the calculation of dependants’ grant. The fundamental review of the means test used to assess support for higher education students will examine all aspects of the current arrangements, including the disregards.

Water Industry

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what opportunity for input it gave to the Parliament with respect to the setting of standards agreed between the water authorities and the Water Industry Commissioner and what opportunity the Parliament was given to specify what these standards and levels of compensation might be.

Sarah Boyack: The Water Industry Commissioner is consulting on his proposals for new guaranteed minimum standards for water customers. The Commissioner has discussed his proposals with the water authorities, and he now seeks views from all those with an interest before finalising the standards. Members of the Parliament with views should submit them to the Commissioner as part of this process by 1 July.